Human Rights vs. Religious Freedom?

Helen M. Alvaré is an associate professor of law at George Mason University.

December 22, 2011

Skepticism about the good of religious liberty is growing. Recently, the federal government stopped working with experienced, highly regarded agencies whose religious conscience prevented their providing abortions or contraception; federal employees said they awarded grants instead to lesser-ranked providers. Under proposed federal health care mandates, almost no religious employers would be exempt from providing insurance that covers contraception, including forms that function as early abortifacients; only organizations that primarily serve and hire co-believers qualify for the exemption. Commentators accurately quipped that the ministries of Jesus Christ and Mother Teresa would not qualify. The rhetoric accompanying these moves is hyberbolic: Representative Nancy Pelosi accused Catholic institutions of a willingness to let women “die on the floor.”

It is troubling to force religious employers to violate their principles about reproductive rights.

Others equate granting religious freedom with denying human rights. This is a strange claim for two reasons. First, most people understand the right to search for the meaning of life, for the transcendent, and for the norms governing our co-existence, as essential. It played a pivotal role in our founding, and continues to form an essential part of the “good life” for Americans individually, and via the groups they form to serve the vulnerable.

Second, a closer look at the claimed “human rights” pitted against religious freedom reveals a curious pattern: they are not really human rights claims at all, but rather an insistence upon sexual expression often without regard for the well-being of the children or even the adults involved. This describes laws recognizing same-sex unions and laws mandating abortion services and/or more and cheaper contraception. Emerging data indicates, however, that: 99 percent of women who have had sex have used birth control; nonmarital births and abortions have skyrocketed since the onset of huge federal contraception programs; and children’s stable connection with parents of both sexes contributes to the flourishing of both.

Perhaps after 200 years we are complacent about religious freedom. Perhaps we don’t understand the relationship between religious freedom and our peaceful, prosperous, generous society. Perhaps we have not paid attention to how diverse religious persons and institutions model American aspirations, and contribute to our decentralized economy and society. No matter the reason, the current pressure on religious freedom should cease.